8/31/2007 @ 6:00PM

In Pictures: The 100 Most Powerful Women

#4 Condoleezza Rice

Secretary of State

Country: U.S.

Rice sits at the center of the negative reaction worldwide to the Bush administration’s policies. Though she still routinely polls higher than her boss, that isn’t hard to do, given that the president’s ratings hover around freezing, as one pundit put it (though Congress recently polled even lower at 18%). A number of reasons: the war in Iraq, including poor post-war planning; her difficulty in admitting to Congress the Bush administration’s failure to pay proper attention to warnings about terrorism pre-9/11; awkard results of the administration’s democracy agenda in the Middle East (think Palestine and Lebanon). But Rice continues to sally forth in regions riven by the worst political and religious pathologies. That includes tackling the nuclear aspirations of Iran and North Korea; helping to broker the ceasefire in the war between Israel and Lebanon; and her shuttle diplomacy in the ceaseless turmoil between Palestine and Israel. Highly visible, Rice is at the same time curiously inscrutable. Known for her almost chilly, unwavering self-discipline, Rice has historically exhibited an iron faith in her own beliefs. But recently she has shown some flexibility. After initially siding with the neoconservatives who disdained talking to the U.S.’s enemies, Rice seemed to be returning to her realist roots, advocating talks with Iran and Syria.–Tatiana Serafin